Sequenom Inc. has acquired exclusive worldwide rights (excluding Hong Kong) to digital PCR and other noninvasive prenatal diagnostic intellectual property from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. These rights expand Sequenom’s already existing, broad intellectual property portfolio of noninvasive prenatal diagnostic methods using fetal nucleic acids obtained from a maternal sample. The agreement expands Sequenom’s leadership position as it continues to advance its clinical development programs and marketing plans for its proprietary, noninvasive Trisomy 21 Down syndrome maternal blood test and other innovative prenatal diagnostic tests.

People who have diabetes and are unaware of it ,or those who have a condition known as pre-diabetes that often leads to diabetes ,will soon have access to a free tool to assess their health status online. The Diabetes Risk Test, based on a model developed by researchers at Archimedes Inc. accurately assesses a person’s chances of having or developing undiagnosed diabetes or pre-diabetes. The assessment tool calculates a person’s chances of having diabetes using the answers to a series of questions, such as age, weight and history of gestational diabetes.